We report studies on magnetization dynamics in NiO nanoparticles of average size 5 nm. Temperature and time dependence of dc magnetization, wait time dependence of magnetic relaxation (aging) and memory phenomena in dc magnetization are studied with various temperature and field protocols. We observe that the system shows memory and aging in field-cooled and zero-field-cooled magnetization measurements. These experiments show that the magnetic behavior of NiO nanoparticles is similar to spin glasses. We argue that the spin glass behavior originates from the freezing of spins at the surface of the individual particles.

We report studies on temperature, field and time dependence of magnetization on cupric oxide nanoparticles of sizes 9 nm, 13 nm and 16 nm. The nanoparticles show unusual features in comparison to other antiferromagnetic nanoparticle systems. The field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC) magnetization curves bifurcate well above the Néel temperature and the usual peak in the ZFC magnetization curve is absent. The system does not show any memory effects which is in sharp contrast to the usual behavior shown by other antiferromagnetic nanoparticles. It turns out that the non-equilibrium behavior of CuO nanoparticles is very strange and is neither superparamagnetic nor spin glass-like.

We report detailed studies on non-equilibrium magnetic behavior of antiferromagnetic Co3O4 nanoparticles. Temperature and field dependence of magnetization, wait time dependence of magnetic relaxation (aging), memory effects and temperature dependence of specific heat have been investigated to understand the magnetic behavior of these particles. We find that the system shows some features characteristic of nanoparticle magnetism such as bifurcation of field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC) susceptibilities and a slow relaxation of magnetization. However, strangely, the temperature at which the ZFC magnetization peaks coincides with the bifurcation temperature and does not shift on application of magnetic fields up to 1 kOe, unlike most other nanoparticle systems. Aging effects in these particles are negligible in both FC and ZFC protocol and memory effects are present only in FC protocol. We estimate the Néel temperature by using Fisher's relation as well as directly by measurement of specific heat, thus testing the validity of Fisher's relation for nanoparticles. We show that Co3O4 nanoparticles constitute a unique aniferromagnetic system which develops a magnetic moment in the paramagnetic state because of antiferromagnetic correlations and enters into a blocked state above the Néel temperature.